[ELECTRON] GLASGOW STUDENTS AGAINST CUTS: Monday 29th November: New Glasgow-wide day of education/planning against cuts and for resistance

[Ben Dembroski]

Howabouts lengthy and coherent?

On Tue, 2010-11-30 at 15:38 +0000, Thomas Coles wrote:
> you mean "pretentious" and "lengthy" rather than eloquent or coherent
> (Literature degree raises its ugly head)
> ;)
> 
> On 30 November 2010 15:36, Ben Dembroski <ben at dembroski.net> wrote:
>         Yup.
>         
>         A much more eloquent and coherent way of saying:
>         
>         >       IMHO, politics enter the equation when the tech is
>         used,
>         >         consumed or referenced within the wider context of
>         human
>         >         interactions
>         >         and power relationships.
>         
>         
>         :)
>         
>         
>         On Tue, 2010-11-30 at 15:12 +0000, Thomas Coles wrote:
>         > In my opinion:
>         >
>         > Technologies are tools designed to manipulate our
>         environments, they
>         > change one thing into another thing.
>         >
>         > The end for which they are designed, when political, makes
>         the tool
>         > political. A microchip is a tool to process information more
>         quickly -
>         > it usurps human minds and human abilities. When we have
>         reached a
>         > stage where we can no longer write or design computer
>         (machine) code
>         > directly, when we have programming 'languages', we have
>         reached a
>         > stage where the vocabulary is more important than the tool.
>         The very
>         > idea of repetition, of loops, of unending sequences, of the
>         continual
>         > increase in complexity of knowledge and possibility, the
>         computers'
>         > cold equivalence of data types.
>         >
>         > For me all these things are political, they mediate our
>         understanding
>         > of the world and our understanding of each other. The fact
>         that we
>         > have the luxury of these technologies, and others don't
>         (that we have
>         > drones that can kill-at-distance with no risk) is political.
>         Can we
>         > have iPods and Macs without the suicides at Foxcom?
>         Computers are
>         > going to become more expensive due to Chinese embargos on
>         rare-earth
>         > metals. In the end these tools do not exist in a vacuum,
>         someone made
>         > them, someone designed them. If we use the Internet without
>         > remembering that it is a cold-war outgrowth, don't we risk
>         buying into
>         > ideas we might not be aware of?
>         >
>         > The politics is contextual of course, but not only this, the
>         types of
>         > tools available emerge from needs and ideas not necessarily
>         our own.
>         > When Microsoft releases Genuine Advantage, or refuses to
>         allow DVDs to
>         > play on their software due to copyright, these things are no
>         longer
>         > tools, but also have inbuilt promotion of certain
>         ideologies.
>         >
>         > Tom
>         >
>         > On 30 November 2010 14:57, Ben Dembroski <ben at dembroski.net>
>         wrote:
>         >         The can be, but it certainly resides on a sliding
>         scale with a
>         >         huge
>         >         range.
>         >
>         >         The use of Twitter by Iranian protesters is more
>         political
>         >         than me
>         >         deciding to use an Arduino over a Basic Stamp to
>         automate the
>         >         watering
>         >         of my house plants.  There's nothing inherently
>         political
>         >         about
>         >         technology.  IMHO, politics enter the equation when
>         the tech
>         >         is used,
>         >         consumed or referenced within the wider context of
>         human
>         >         interactions
>         >         and power relationships.
>         >
>         >         I would hope that any of these topics would equally
>         welcome on
>         >         this
>         >         list.
>         >
>         >         Equally important is the distinction that not
>         everything
>         >         "political" has
>         >         a significant element of "technology" to it.
>         >
>         >         --
>         >         Ben
>         >
>         >
>         >         On Tue, 2010-11-30 at 11:01 +0000, M.Hersh wrote:
>         >         > Hi,
>         >         > I would also point out that technology itself and
>         its uses
>         >         are political.
>         >         > Marion
>         >
>         >
>         >
>         >
>         >
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